Why do Brits live in darkness except for December?

[Swedegirl48]

I am Swedish and at home if you walk down a street, most houses will have lamps in some of the windows, outside lights and usually people don’t draw curtains so you can see the lights from within the houses. I was asking British DH today why Brits tend to light up their houses so enthusiastically in December, but the rest of the year people draw their curtains and no one seems to put lamps in the windows (at least not where we live which is London). I am the only person in my street who has a lamp in every window of my house and leave some on overnight too. I think I am trying to overcompensate for my very dark street.

Yes I have read the OP's post. And her (goady) thread title. Though of course it's surprising I can manage it, sitting here in darkness 😂what with being "a Brit" and it not being December any more! Oi turn that light out! 😱

This isn’t necessarily why I draw the curtains at night, but if the curtains aren’t drawn and it’s dark outside, I get anxious that if I look out the window I’ll suddenly notice a man standing there staring at me! It’s never happened but it always pops into me head haha

Are you ok?

Imagine being that offended.

Why am I a Karen. Only a Karen would be offended by what I said

I am really interested in the rechargeable lamps that don’t need to be plugged in. Can you send me some links please? Thank you

I’m interested in your lamps OP & hope you start a thread about them!

But I wouldn’t feel comfortable with curtains open at night. Partly for privacy - not that I’m doing anything people would want to watch, or that I worry about serial killers, I just don’t want people seeing into my house or looking at me when I can’t see them doing so. A more realistic worry is that burglars can see what’s inside the house and where. Also I find it hard to sleep in the summer without blackout-lined curtains.

I think there is a big cultural element to this. I don’t feel scared when houses are dark in my London suburb - it’s what I’m used to, and street lights seem plenty for me. I do find the dark of country areas quite scary, because it’s not what I’m used to. But these are just perceptions rather than actual dangers.

I like it when my neighbours and friends continue traditions from their home countries or cultures, it makes life more interesting, but I would find it odd if they expected me to adopt those traditions too.

"Because I won’t put up with them being closed 😊"

Lucky husband 🙄 I wouldn't put up with a partner who dictated to me but there you go, fortunately for you people are different.

I got one from Amazon - the light lasted about 2 hours after being charged and that was only for the first week or so, then decreased to a charging : use ratio of about 23:1 but i never got round to sending it back. It's now an ornament 😏.

Well, this is the most insanely batshit thread I've ever witnessed on MN. I mean, I knew it wasn't the centre of all that is sane round here, but Christ some of the responses on here are utterly bonkers. All because the OP asked why we light up everything in December but not the rest of the year.

It's a fair question. And she got some measured responses. But the rest...well, I've never seen such over the top aggressive reactions to someone lighting some lamps in their own home.

It's as unfriendly on here as it is in the streets, OP. The UK, quite frankly, is rapidly becoming an unfriendly country in general. Everyone's ready for a ruck.

If you have the option to return to a safer friendlier Sweden, do it OP. It's going to the dogs in the UK.

And you're right about the NHS too. It's a shockingly run service that we've all been forced to be grateful for 'because it's free' while people fail to realise it isn't fucking free, the NI and taxes of working folk pay for it. And we're not getting back what is being put in.

I say this as a born and bred Brit. This country is not what it once was.

Hear hear

But most people don’t light up their house at Christmas in the way that OP lights up her house all year round. Yes, some people put lights up in their front garden, some more tastefully than others! But even then the majority on houses on our street weren’t lit up like a Christmas tree. And people don’t put lights on in every window even at Christmas.

I don’t know about anybody else, but even with our (lined) curtains closed, the sitting room looks warm and cosy from the outside when the lights are on.

For most of the year we are vampires 👻

I put up thermal curtains in 2022 so leaving them open would be a waste of heat and money.

I use some outdoors. I get them from the Aisle of Wonder at Aldi.

In summer they work OK, the days are long and sunny and the nights are short. In winter, they will run flat after a couple of gloomy days.

The better ones are heavier (have a larger battery) and have a visibly larger solar cell on the top. The packaging should state the battery power. The first ones I bought had a cheap rechargeable AA battery inside, and I changed them for a better one that had several days capacity.

Mine are positioned facing East, and get unshaded morning sun. My neighbour has some facing North, so they get little sun and are pretty well useless.

Pooky lights. They are expensive, but the recharge lasts. And are very pretty.

Just taken the decs and tree down .But still have lots of candles and lamps. We use an outside light on the wall of our house . But have thermal curtains and close them to keep heat in .I guess a lamp in the window looks nice. Just not a thing here.

IKEA do some rechargeable lights too. Probs cheaper.

Depending on the construction of your windows, you can put a table lamp on the window side of the curtains.

I think I would use an LED lamp as it is unlikely to get hot enough to cause scorching.

Houses in and around Central London since 1666 traditionally have the windows set back towards the room, without a window board to put stuff on.

Proof foreigners don't understand the complexities (and in your case the basic tenets) of English humour. I'll explain "I was laughing at your pettiness". 😁

We don’t. We have light all year round. Dur

An enlightening thread this

If electricity was free 😂 not made of money.
We turn off unused lights and go to bed with only a small hand rechargeable lamp for night use (bathroom trips, check on the kids etc)

Modern LED lamps use so little electricity that the cost is insignificant.

A 10W lamp will run for 100 hours on one unit of electricity.

Your tariff will vary, but it would cost me about 25p

I have small lamps on the landing and stairs on timers, so illuminated during hours of darkness.